The 2018 McCammon Voice Competition judges have chosen the semi-finalists for the eighteenth biennial competition, to be held on March 16, 2018 at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The finals will be held March 17, 2018 at Bass Performance Hall. This year's competitors are David Araujo, Amanda Blue, Nicolette Book, Ryan Bradford, Rachael Braustein, Kathleen Buccleugh, Chelsea Coyne, Danielle Davis, Peter Scott Drackley, Helen Huang, Hao Hu, Emily Michiko Jensen, Abigail Kempson, Chonghwa Kim, Abigail Levis, Brandon Morales, Elizabeth Moran, Langelihle Mngxati, Chong Yoon Noh, Brittany Nickell, Yulan Piao, Anthony Reed, Michael St. Peter and Andrew Wannigman.
At age 82, singer-raconteur, Ira Lee Collings is thrilled to be nominated for a 2018 MAC Award in the "Musical Comedy Performer" category. The self-proclaimed "gay geezer" is over the moon; the only other performer to claim an "oldest" distinction is Marilyn Maye (she'll be 90 years old in April) who won her first MAC in 2010. And while it's true that Carol Shedlin has a few years on both Maye and Collings, she'll be receiving the non competitive Hanson Award this year, an honor given to a performer who has never received a MAC nomination, but who has, none the less, done excellent work over a sustained period of time. Last year's Hanson Award winner, by the way, was - Ira Lee Collings!
Live Nation announced today the highly popular Ticket to Rock program would return for the third year with exclusive ticket bundles to some of the hottest rock tours this summer including Avenged Sevenfold with Prophets of Rage, Five Finger Death Punch & Breaking Benjamin, Godsmack & Shinedown and Rob Zombie & Marilyn Manson. Ticket to Rock offers fans a low-cost way to see many of their favorite rock artists live in their area all summer long. The bundles will start at $59 and go on sale beginning today, Monday, March 5 at 12pm PT at LiveNation.com.
At its fifth annual Eight Over Eighty benefit gala, The New Jewish Home will pay tribute to eight New Yorkers who, in their ninth and tenth decades, continue to live lives of remarkable achievement, vitality, and civic engagement. The event, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on Monday, March 12, raises funds to support The New Jewish Home, one of the nation's largest and most diversified nonprofit geriatric rehabilitation, skilled nursing, and home health care programs, which together serves 12,000 older adults of all faiths and ethnicities each year. Over 450 business and philanthropic leaders, influencers, healthcare and eldercare advocates, and cultural patrons are expected to attend the event, which is projected to raise $1.5 million.
Sam Shepard's 1983 black comedy 'True West' comes to life with Elite Theatre Company's searing portrayal of two brothers at war with one another. One is a struggling screenwriter, the other a parasitic bully. When the two clash, their personalities merge until you can't tell one from the other. Aaron Gardner and Sean Mason star in this devastating satire of Hollywood wannabes and a dysfunctional family relationship that runs amuck.
During the Annual General Meeting held earlier today, the Shaw Festival announced positive financial results for the 2017 season while celebrating the many wins of Artistic Director Tim Carroll's first season which welcomed 236,824 audience members to 783 performances, including the newly added production of A Christmas Carol. The season introduced Shaw Festival patrons to Mr. Carroll's vision of The Shaw as a Two-Way Theatre - where the audience has a real voice and is not excluded from any aspect of The Shaw's work.
American soprano Kathleen Battle's luminous voice has been called by The Washington Post "...without qualification, one of the very few most beautiful in the world." Yet beyond the glory of her singing, in a career filled with countless accolades, honors and major milestones, what has perhaps distinguished her most is her almost magical ability to create an unwavering emotional bond between herself, her music and her audience. On Thursday, March 29 at 8pm, that special bond will be on full display when Ms. Battle makes her debut at The Soraya with Kathleen Battle: Underground Railroad-A Spiritual Journey accompanied by pianist Joel Martin and the LA-based choir, The Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers.
Golden Globe nominee Philip Casnoff (Chess, Chicago, CBS' Sinatra), will take on the title role in 54 SINGS ROCKABYE HAMLET, a one night only concert at Feinstein's/54 Below on Sunday, April 1st, 2018, at 7:00pm.
Due to popular demand, The Marsh San Francisco extends Jill Vice's solo show, A Fatal Step. Turning the tables on film noir tropes, Vice's 60-minute dramedy tells its shadowy tale not from the typical point of view of the hardboiled detective, but from that of the femme fatale. When Sarah's footing with her handsome podiatrist boyfriend is undermined by an archrival, she takes drastic steps to keep her man. The San Francisco Examiner praised Vice, noting "it's impossible to take your eyes off the animated actress," while the San Francisco Chronicle celebrated her performance declaring "Vice both does noir justice and impishly picks it apart." A Fatal Step, directed by Mark Kenward and developed with David Ford, will return for its extended run 8:00pm Thursdays and 8:30pm Saturdays March 24-April 28, 2018 at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale, $55-$100 reserved), the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh box office at 415-282-3055 (open 1pm-4pm, Monday through Friday).
An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet cafe. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man - with a lot of loose ends. So begins this wildly imaginative comedy by MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl, author of the Ross Valley Players hit The Clean House. A work about how we memorialize the dead - and how that remembering changes us - it is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world.
Weaving the Terrain: 100-Word Southwestern Poems is the third collection in a unique series from Dos Gatos Press of Albuquerque, Poetry of the American Southwest-following up on Lifting the Sky: Southwestern Haiku and Haiga (2013) and Bearing the Mask: Southwestern Persona Poems (2016).
Creative Time is pleased to announce the hoisting of the tenth public artwork in the Pledges of Allegiance series, Don't Worry Be Angry, by British artist Jeremy Deller. The flag will be raised today, February 28, in partnership with 13 institutions nationwide. Full list below.
The Verdi Chorus celebrates its 35th anniversary with its Spring 2018 concert The Force of Destiny for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on April 28 and 29 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum. As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, their program will feature selections from three Verdi operas - La forza del destino, Nabucco, including the famed chorus "Va, pensiero," the opening party scene of La traviata, and conclude with beloved melodies from Strauss' Die Fledermaus.
The Marsh San Francisco adds three free performances of Brian Copeland's The Waiting Period, due to ongoing support from a GoFundMe campaign. This deeply moving and surprisingly funny work outlines Copeland's own struggles with depression and suicidal thought, and is presented at no cost to remove all barriers for those who may be struggling with depression themselves. Featuring humorous, poignant, and riveting insights, the solo show written by Copeland and directed by David Ford, will take place 5:30pm Sundays March 25 - April 29, 2018 (see exact schedule below), at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia Street. General admission for this performance is free, although reservations ($55-$100), are recommended. To reserve tickets or for more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call 415-282-3055 Monday through Friday between 1:00pm and 4:00pm.
Those who have made significant contributions to the arts in a variety of categories will be recognized for their achievements in enriching the communities and citizens of Utah at the 13th Annual Star Awards held Saturday, March 10, 2018 at the SCERA Center for the Arts in Orem.
One of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Arthur Miller created such celebrated works as “Death of a Salesman” and “The Crucible,” which continue to move audiences around the world today. He also made headlines for being targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee at the height of the McCarthy Era and entering into a tumultuous marriage with Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe.
The Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) is pleased to announce the 2018 MAC Award nominees. The nominees, in a majority of the categories, were determined by votes cast by the active MAC membership. The MAC Board of Directors selected the nominees for Show of the Year. Special committees selected the nominees in the Ensemble Instrumentalist, Piano Bar Instrumentalist, Piano Bar Singing Entertainer (Female; Male), Recording (LaMott Friedman), Major Recording, Song and Comedy/Novelty Song categories. The names of the songwriters in the Song and Comedy/Novelty Song categories are being withheld during the voting period, but will be announced publicly as soon as the voting period concludes.
American Composers Orchestra (ACO) continues its 2017-2018 season, under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel, Music Director George Manahan, and President Edward Yim, with Dreamscapes, on Friday, April 6, 2018 at 7:30pm at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall (57th St. and 7th Ave.).